One of the most important aspects of David Allen's Getting Things Done productivity system is the Weekly Review - a regular ritual of checking in and updating your task and project lists. When people discuss GTD, they usually focus on the "capture" part of the system, which is the first step: getting everything out of your head and into some holding pen that you trust (whether that's Microsoft Outlook, a paper notebook or a text file.) But having all your stuff out of your head isn't enough: you've got to review it regularly to make sure you're focusing on the right things in your work. The last five Fridays I've scheduled and followed through on the Weekly Review, and it turns out it makes an enormous mental difference.

In a nutshell, the review confirms that everything is in its right place - that you've assigned yourself the right to-do's, that there are no urgent email messages left undealt with, that your projects are up-to-date, that your system is cruft-free and that you're making progress. There's no better feeling than the sense of being on top of all things in your world. It's the productive calm state of mind that The David talks about throughout the book - and the Weekly Review is a key part of getting to that blissful place.

Schedule the Weekly Review

Getting the Weekly Review on my calendar was the first step for me. I do the Weekly Review on Friday afternoon because it gives me that sense of closure and wrap-up before the weekend. Some folks like to do it Sunday evening, which could work well to keep things fresh in your mind for Monday. The key to getting it done is scheduling it. Add a 30 minute meeting with yourself to your calendar, whether it's Friday, Monday or Sunday, and set up a reminder for it.

Break down your review

My biggest problem with the Weekly Review concept was that it felt very amorphous: what was I reviewing exactly, and was the WR going to be yet another task I had to get done? But the review isn't some long complicated undertaking. All you do is check in on your various capture buckets, that you've been diligently stowing your stuff in all week, and make sure everything is where it should be. Before I start my Weekly Review, I empty my email inbox to make sure everything's captured and ready for review. Then, my Weekly Review looks like this:

Email: Review and prune my Hold and Followup email folders for personal and work email. (See more about the Trusted Trio.) Bump up anything that's been languishing in Followup for too long on my to-do list.

To-do list: Read over my current task list; prune stuff that doesn't matter any more; re-prioritize items to work on next week.

Projects: Move any "next actions" for each project to the to-do list; Revise and prune the project list to reflect current status.

Calendar: Check out next week's appointments and meetings; add any necessary prep work to to-do list.

(Your review list may vary depending on where and how you stow your stuff. But the overall idea is the same.)

That's it. It's only 4 items, and once you get into the habit, the whole process takes about 20 minutes. Afterwards, you feel like you're on top of your game and ready to tackle the next thing - whether that's a weekend of relaxation or a new week of work.

Why not start your Weekly Review this Friday afternoon? Any regular weekly reviewers out there wanna share their tips? Please do in the comments.